Miscellaneana: Paul Storr, silversmith and entrepreneur

 

LONDON – Paul Storr is one of England’s most famous, yet perhaps also most elusive, 19th century silversmiths. Some would say he was the greatest. Certainly, his magnificent creations set new standards during the Regency era of extravagance.

Today, his finest pieces are found only in museums − Harewood House in Leeds; the National Trust’s Attingham Park in Shropshire; the V&A and Aspley House, the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington, all have good collections − but now through Oct. 31, London dealers Koopman Rare Art will show more than 200 examples, either from stock or loaned from private homes, in what it is not just the first exhibition of its type but also the largest group ever to be assembled in one place.

It coincides with the publication of a book by former Christie’s New York director and scholar Christopher Hartop, titled Art in Industry: The Silver of Paul Storr*. Rather than a biography, the book is a reassessment of the silversmith’s near 50-year career, which places him as “one of the greatest artistic entrepreneurs of his day,” alongside potter Josiah Wedgwood, master buider Thomas Cubitt and manufacturer Matthew Boulton.

 

 

“Storr was not a lonely craftsman working away at a bench, but a gifted entrepreneur with a flair for spotting the best artists, including celebrated painters and sculptors as well as designers, draftsmen and modelers. Storr’s use of innovative technology is breathtaking,” writes Hartop. “It was the Microsoft of its day and meant that silver was available to a much wider client base.”

Paul Storr (1771-1844) was born in Westminster, London, the son of a silver chaser who later turned to inn keeping for his livelihood. At the age of 14, the young Storr was apprenticed to a brilliant Swedish silversmith working in Soho named Andrew Fogelberg.

Seven years later, Storr had learned all his master could teach him. He left and by 1792, he was in partnership with another smith, William Frisbee. However, Storr’s genius was already beginning to emerge, and the following year he set off on his own to find fame and fortune.

 

 

His training had been in the classical style of Robert Adam: all swags and garlands and beading. By now, though, he had developed a style all of his own. At first it was restrained but then, as more success came his way, exuberant and grandiose – neoclassicism combining elements of the classical with Egyptian and rococo motifs.

In 1807, Storr began an association with London silver retailers Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, who were renowned for particularly lavish products and who held the warrant as Royal Goldsmiths. Storr’s role was to oversee more than 500 silversmiths and craftsmen in their workshops supplying the massive 10,000 ounces of high quality wrought pieces needed every month to meet demand.

Easily their most important customer was the Prince Regent, the future George IV, who commissioned some of the most opulent of all pieces from the firm for Carlton House, the Brighton Pavilion and Windsor Castle. They remain in the Royal collection.

 

 

Among them is a magnificent pair of candelabra of classical inspiration, commissioned in 1809. They were designed by the architect John Flaxman and stand more than 4 feet in height. Astonishing creations, each depicts the mythological guarding of the apples of Hesperides. At the time they cost a staggering £4,000. The same money today might just buy a single plain candlestick.

However, Storr also produced many less flamboyant, yet just as fine, pieces that are still within the reach of the collector today. For example, recently I saw an elegant George III cruet fitted with eight cut-glass bottles, the silver-mounts by Storr, assayed (tested for silver content) in 1815. It carried a saleroom estimate of £2,000-£3,000, while in the same sale was a pair of Storr saltcellars made in 1806 that were estimated at £800-£1,200.

 

 

The Prince’s father, George III, was also a good customer, as were Queen Charlotte and the Duke of Wellington, all of whom encouraged a generation of lesser aristocrats, the landed gentry, military men, livery companies, politicians and rich merchants on both sides of the Atlantic to follow suit.

By 1807, Storr was working almost exclusively for Rundell and in 1811, he became a partner. However, he continued to call himself Storr and Co., a hint of his preference for independence, which he regained in 1819 when he left the company. After a short period working alone, in 1822 he went into business with John Mortimer, the attraction being the latter’s retail premises in the capital’s Bond Street.

The move was a disaster, however, largely because of Mortimer’s lack of business sense and it took a substantial loan from a friend to avert closure. Consequently, John Hunt joined the partnership in 1826, from which point the firm flourished.

 

 

Storr married in 1801, and he and his wife, Elizabeth, whose family were piano and organ builders, had 10 children. He retired in 1838 and the firm became Hunt & Roskell one of the most important silversmiths in Victorian times.

The exhibition, entry to which is free, is at Koopman Rare Art in Chancery Lane, WC2. Among the exhibits is an unusual pair of wine coolers, part of an extensive service commissioned from Storr in 1816 and retailed by Rundell for George Hay Dawkins-Pennant of Pehryhn Castle in Gwynedd, reputedly the wealthiest man in Wales.

He inherited extensive estates in North Wales containing lucrative slate quarries, and plantations in Jamaica from his father’s cousin, Lord Penrhyn. He served as an MP for much of his adult life and built Penryhn Castle, now owned by the National Trust, with more than 300 rooms between 1821 and 1835. The wine coolers are for sale, priced at £195,000.

 

 

Meanwhile, a magnificent silver dinner service was commissioned from Storr by the people of Liverpool for presentation to Sir John Gladstone (1764-1851) father of Prime Minister William Ewart, in 1824 to celebrate the former’s role in the promotion of trade and commerce in the city. It weighs a total of almost 3,500 ounces of silver and is one of the exhibits for sale, priced at £1.5 million.

*Art in Industry: The Silver of Paul Storr is published by John Adamason with 168 pages and more than 150 colour illustrations and is priced at £45. Koopman Rare Art have nominated that every copy sold will benefit Victoria and Albert Museum funds for the acquisition of silver for the National Collection.

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By CHRISTOPHER PROUDLOVE